Staff Writer Lucy Hamilton explores the exploitation of classrooms to promote propaganda through the lens of recent Oscar-winning documentary “Mr. Nobody Against Putin”.
The 2026 winner of best documentary feature, ‘Mr. Nobody Against Putin’ tells the brave story of Russian primary school teacher Pavel Talankin, who used his role as school videographer at Karabash primary school to expose the militaristic ‘Patriotic Education Policy’ being implemented across Russia following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Talankin worked with American director David Borenstein to create the film, banned in Russia, and consequently had to flee Russia in the summer of 2024. The film shows how Putin intends to “eliminate dissenting views” to mobilise the nation and uses indoctrination in schools to achieve such aims. This includes enforcing mandatory recitals of patriotic songs and speeches, implementing grenade throwing competitions, marching practice, as well as skewed history lessons that prioritise patriotism over the truth and frame Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “de-Nazification”.
It’s a thought provoking watch, raising questions of how damaging selective history curriculum can be, and how nationalist undertones across the world shape children’s understanding of international affairs—especially when that narrative is made unquestionable.
Talankin highlights the despondency felt amongst teachers and older students: “you are so aware that you cannot change anything that you remain trapped in their system”. Nonetheless, he maintains that: “love for your country is not about putting up a flag. It is not about singing the anthem either. It’s not about exploitation and propaganda. Love for your country means saying, “we have a problem”. Throughout the documentary Talankin commits acts of resistance, even taking his chances playing Lady Gaga’s rendition of the US national anthem in his school’s corridors.
This documentary reminds us of the dangerous power of propaganda. In a classroom where your right to be there and learn relies on your unquestionable loyalty to an oppressive regime, there is no room for original thought. This isn’t a uniquely Russian phenomenon, however. ‘Xi Jinping Thought’, implemented across Hong Kong secondary schools since September 2024, has comparable motives. Mandatory on the curriculum, it aims to foster devotion towards the Chinese Communist Party and promote the idea that ‘Hong Kong belongs to Beijing’. Apple Daily, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy newspaper (which now operates in exile), reports that teachers who object to the ‘patriotic script’ are fired and that this dogmatic environment spans across universities as-well as secondary schools.
The path to recovery after generations of indoctrination is a slow process. In South Africa, whilst Bantu Education (an apartheid policy that promoted ideas of white supremacy and made the curriculum for Black South Africans purely vocational) is no longer taught in schools, children’s opportunities are still influenced by apartheid’s legacy, as “rigid school admission policies” and “feeder zones” (which determine what schools are available to students based on geographical location) mean that under-resourced areas face significant disadvantages—schools in these areas are over-crowded, lacking in textbooks and have poor quality infrastructure. Those living in such deprived townships live there “not by choice but by historical design” due to the racist segregation policies under apartheid.
Putin’s philosophy that “Commanders don’t win wars, teachers win wars” is one that has been shared by many authoritarian leaders throughout history, but perhaps this shows how critical thinking in classrooms is what we need to prevent wars. The only way to stop history from repeating itself is to promote inquiring mindsets and analytical thinking, not blind compliance. Children must be exposed to different perspectives in order to make informed decisions and freely debate issues, without being made to feel that they are betraying their country.
The emergence of powerful social media influencers over school children in Britain, as explored in ‘Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere’, shows us how increasingly crucial it is for us to develop the skills to question what we are shown on social media and have open discussions. Theroux’s documentary demonstrates how influencers, such as Harrison Sullivan, use their platform to spread harmful misogynistic views through content which Theroux argues is “marketed at kids”, who sometimes find it “hard not to take it at face value”. Cults of personality, whether created by politicians or influencers on social media, must be challenged.
Talankin’s documentary forces us to confront the terrifying future impact of a dogmatic environment in schools. It encourages us to treat the history we are taught as something to challenge and learn from, not a safety net that can be moulded to protect nationalist interests and indoctrinate the new generation.
‘Mr. Nobody against Putin’ is available on BBC iPlayer and ‘Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere’ can be streamed on Netflix.
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